Nativism and Language

So I'm reading this book on American nativism, called Strangers in the Land by John Higham. He establishes three main patterns of American nativism, anti-Catholicism, a fear of political discontent (anti-anarchism), and racism. As we move from European immigration to immigration from other parts of the world, nativism takes a bent towards racism. It's an interesting book, although I have no one to discuss it with - I'm surprised at how isolated I feel not having any classes this semester. One would think that working at a University would allow you to come in and discuss big ideas with people, but it seems around here I get weird looks like, "How can you go home and read when you haven't filed the TPS report?"

I'm curious about the ties between nativism and language. So far, the only real mentions of foreign languages have been in the discussion of the literacy test that anti-immigrant factions tried to pass in Congress, but even that was not well-described. From this book it seems as if the literacy test made sure that the immigrant was literate in his or her own language, but that seems as if it would be difficult to administer - I mean, how many Americans at the time spoke Russian or Italian? I guess the recent immigrants did - and there lies the irony of having recent immigrants administer a literacy test to would-be immigrants, designed to keep them out of the US. The book also discusses Hearst and his attemps to influence immigrants towards Republican politics through the control of foreign language newspapers.

Outside of those two issues, it seems as if the language immigrants spoke is little discussed. I guess many lumped together Irish and Italian, one group speaking English and the other not, so it seems as if language mattered little. Was one group more quickly assimilated than the other, though, due to language? How did these immigrants learn English? And although perhaps its a more recent issue, the whole idea of "English Only" legislation seems to be powerfully tied to these patterns of nativism. We're no longer concerned about anarchists, but we are concerned about terrorists, and there's a push and a pull on both sides at once for more language skills in the populace and a need to control the language people speak.

Obviously there is a book here. A dissertation? I don't know. I feel as if I might be moving towards writing one part of it, which is why I picked up this book to begin with. It's time to focus on some of these historical patterns and see how they have impacted individual education programs, to tie together the cultural and historical trends with how insitutions decide to impliment, fund, etc educational programs.

It feels so good to write, to exercise free thought, in an environment where I feel circumscribed. I need to write, to read, to think in order to be happy.

Exit, Voice, and Loyalty

For some reason, when I got home from work last night at 10:30, all I wanted to do was read this book: Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations, and States by Albert Hirschman.

He discusses (citing others, and so maybe I should go find their books) the idea of slack in organizations. Firms generally don't operate at full capacity; they don't aim for the highest possible profits, they aim for acceptable profits. That way, if an economic downturn hits (ahem), they're able to cut some of the slack and ride out the crisis.

I guess it makes sense why in the current economic time I would want to read this book. Personally, I feel as if there is not enough slack in my professional life. If something goes wrong, often the time that I take to fix it cuts into home time or sleep time or personal time - so for example, not taking time to eat, to exercise, to go home, to pay bills, etc. It's incredibly stressful but I'm not sure right now how to build in more slack. Something major will need to change in order for that to happen.

The question is right now - in an economy in decline, a University with budget cuts coming down the pike, which will I exercise: exit, voice, or loyalty?

Radio Silence Again

I don't want to write about politics because we're all sick of it (and just vote for Obama, it's like taking your vitamins, it's good for you). And I don't want to write about education policy because it reminds me of all the schoolwork I'm not doing. And I don't want to write about work because right now it just feels like I'm suffering through each day. I guess I could write about wedding planning....

I'm sure you'd all be thrilled with that. But I did find some awesome bluegrass musicians for the ceremony/cocktail hour and a blues band for the reception. So that's fun!

but OBAMA SCARES ME

Ugh. I'm so sick of hearing that. And could the people saying it stop being so Southern? It doesn't sound any better when you say he "scares the bejeezus out of me." What is the bejeezus anyway?

You know what scares me? Not being able to buy a house and I'm almost 30. Losing my job because the state I work for is about to announce major budget cuts, and the University System is dependent on state funding... as well as the corporate donors who don't have any more dollars to donate. The amount of student loan debt my fiance and I have combined. Michelle Obama talks about how they took a long time to pay off their debt, how they had children and student loan debt. I could care less about taxes. If a few more bucks here and there meant that students' loan debt was lessened, then maybe it's worth it. Besides, I'm in that solid middle class tax bracket that pays at least 30% in taxes - and my taxes haven't gone down under Bush. The amount I'm paying for just about everything has gone up, so even though I'm doing well financially, I feel poor. And unless we do something about the economy, there won't be an opportunity for me to get a job that puts me in some other tax bracket. Why shouldn't those who get golden parachutes pay more in taxes? Why should it be only me?

What scares me is four more years of a president who could care less about how hard it is for those of us who are under 30 right now, because he probably can't remember what it was like to be 25, and certainly never had to worry about paying off student loans.

Doesn't Anybody Get a C Anymore? - The Boston Globe

Amen to this article. Not going to get personal, but this happens all the time. And how can we counteract it?

Doesn't Anybody Get a C Anymore? - The Boston Globe: "THE STUDENT DESERVED A B-MINUS. MAYBE EVEN A C-PLUS, I HAD decided. One paper was especially weak; another was late. But then I began to rationalize. The student had been generally prepared and contributed to class discussion, so I relented and gave what I thought was a very generous B. At least I wouldn't get a complaint about this grade, I figured. Then came the e-mail.

Why such a 'low grade,' the indignant student wrote."

what educational experiences do you remember?

Do you remember classes? Parties? I remember places very strongly. There's a scene from Jane Austen's Pride and Predjudice when she visits Darcy's house and falls in love with him because the place demonstrates his character. Sewanee was that was for me - the ethos of learning echoed through the place. A sense of the pastoral and respect for the land pervaded both the architecture and the land. All the buildings were made of sandstone from local quarries,reflecting the colors and feel of the landscape. Classrooms were always open, and on late nights I sought solace there to continue to bang out my studies.
I don't feel like the college where I work now has the same kind of purposeful architecture. If it is, the purpose doesn't seem to be learning. Rather, the purposes seem corporate and fundraising oriented.
How does that dictate what my students will take away from there college experiences?

August

It's halfway through August and I have not made one post. Partly because it's August and I was on vacation, and partly because it's August and school starts in WAIT, HOW MANY DAYS?!?!?!?

Although today I'm feeling more sleepy than anything. In the digital-millenial-Internets age, lesson plans have been replaced by PowerPoint slides. I can't imagine my college professors teaching with PowerPoint ("And here, a representation of "the beast from two backs" from Othello!" I think much of literature is best left to the images you see in your own head.) But in business classes, I suppose the visuals make sense. "And here's where you business will break even when you switch to compact florescent lightbulbs!!"

I just had a great idea for one of my lesson plans I have to write that has nothing to do with PowerPoint. Something involving the StoryCorps project on NPR, teaching adults with low literacy levels about oral history, and The Color of Water. I might post them here later on for public use.

McCain Comes Out Against Affirmative Action :: Inside Higher Ed :: Higher Education's Source for News, Views and Jobs

Flip-flop, anyone?

Now it looks like he might change his mind on the DREAM act, which provides a path to citizenship for illegal immigrant children who complete two years of either college or military service. Because I think the Real McCain realizes that it's not fair to punish children for the fact that their parents entered this country illegally.

But where is the McCain for whom I used to have so much respect? Who used to be right about these issues? Succumbing to the anti-immigrant, anti-woman, anti-human being right. There was a time when I even thought I could vote for McCain. Now, no way. Apparently he'll do anything to raise cash from the same people who brought you Halliburton and the Iraq War.

McCain Comes Out Against Affirmative Action :: Inside Higher Ed :: Higher Education's Source for News, Views and Jobs: "Sen. John McCain on Sunday came out against affirmative action, and endorsed ballot measures to bar public colleges and universities — and other state agencies — from considering race in admissions or hiring.

McCain had previously been among those Republicans who refused to endorse these ballot measures."

Literacy Debate - Online, R U Really Reading? - Series - NYTimes.com

Literacy Debate - Online, R U Really Reading? - Series - NYTimes.com: "“No one’s ever said you should read more books to get into college,” she said."

Uuhhhhmm.... really? NO ONE? In Life?

A Break

Just wanted to let you all know I'll be taking a break for a couple of days. I'll be back next week!

I'm Not the Only One!!!!!!!

Thank God, I am not the only one!

To help my students with mild learning disabilities realize that they were normal, I explained to them that I had trouble sometimes (OK, all of the time) telling my right from my left. Of course, for the rest of the time I taught them, they would say, "Miss C, a droite! A gauche!" I had taught them right and left in French, but I still couldn't tell right from left, in any language.

Apparently, others share my problem. I can't tell you how relieved I feel not to be crazy.

Which Is Right? - washingtonpost.com: "I can't tell right from left.

It hasn't been a serious problem. Except that night on a freeway heading into San Francisco when, befuddled by an 'Exit Left' sign, I hit the brakes and got totaled by a really fast sports car. Or the day I directed a footsore family of tourists 180 degrees away from the White House. Or the time I assembled an Ikea bookcase with the dowel holes for the shelves on the outside. Or the countless times I've annoyed my husband by telling him 'Turn, um, left. No wait, I'm sorry . . .'"

The Next Kind of Integration - Class, Race and Desegregating American Schools - NYTimes.com

This research by Ferguson (from the same article as below) makes an important point about integration. At large middle-class schools, like where I went to school in Orlando, the school itself was incredibly integrated. Yet I had classes with mostly white and Asian students. The use of tracking continues to prevent socio-economic and racial integration at many large schools.

Now, I like the idea of smaller schools for the most part as a way to solve this. Being such a large school, my high school had to find a way to separate students out. However small schools prevent students from learning a diversity of subjects... especially when it comes to foreign language. So there isn't one answer... but a mix, which I think is what Louisville is trying, seems to be on the right track.

The Next Kind of Integration - Class, Race and Desegregating American Schools - NYTimes.com: "Ronald Ferguson, an economist at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, is less persuaded. His research highlights the nagging persistence of a racial achievement gap in well-off suburbs. “What happens with the achievement gap in a place like Louisville,” he says, “will depend on how vigilant their leaders are to make sure high-quality instruction is delivered across the board.” Such teaching is more likely in a school with a critical mass of middle-class parents, he concedes. But he stresses that to reap the benefits, poor kids have to be evenly distributed among classrooms and not just grouped together in the lowest tracks. “To the degree a district takes the kids who struggle the most academically and spreads them across different classrooms, they’re making teachers’ work more doable,” he says. “And that may be the biggest effect.”"

The Next Kind of Integration - Class, Race and Desegregating American Schools - NYTimes.com

Although many liberals decried the Supreme Court decision preventing schools from integrating based on race, it seems as if dedicated people in caring communities are still striving ahead to integrate schools based on socio-economics... one factor of which in certain areas also happens to be race.

This story really inspired me. I think that the few dedicated people out there working within their communities to integrate schools while keeping the affluent (white) parents on their side are doing a great job. And a rising tide lifts all boats.

The Next Kind of Integration - Class, Race and Desegregating American Schools - NYTimes.com: "Researchers have been demonstrating this result since 1966, when Congress asked James S. Coleman, a Johns Hopkins sociologist, to deliver a report on why the achievement of black students lagged far behind that of white ones. The expected answer was that more than a decade after Brown, black kids were still often going to inferior schools with small budgets. But Coleman found that the varying amount of money spent on schools didn’t account for the achievement gap. Instead, the greater poverty of black families did. When high concentrations of poor kids went to school together, Coleman reported, all the students at the school tended to learn less."

We're Not Your Colleagues - Chronicle.com

My dad asked me a week or so ago what an adjunct was. Because I'm so immersed in the day-to-day of academia, I don't often realize how a) archaic and b) inscrutable our world can be sometimes. Instead of answering his email, I decided I wanted to answer in a blog post because adjuncts and how universities treat them will continue to have an impact on higher education.

An adjunct is a part time faculty member. This web page from CUNY, although mostly unreadable, does a good job of explaining what an adjunct is. Highlight the text and you'll have an easier time. Adjuncts teach a few credits a semester and are not full-time faculty. The university is thus under no obligation to provide benefits, an office, or support for them. They're paid less per credit hour (from my experience being one and from friends who have done it, it's something like $1500 a credit hour per semester. Meaning that to make $30K, you would have to teach 10 3-credit classes a year. That's a lot of work for not very much money.)

Adjuncts have a hard time becoming part of the faculty with which they serve, and do not often receive any support from staff. In the article quoted below from the Chronicle of Higher Education, this particular adjunct had a difficult time getting keys to the adjunct office, finding out the copier code, and getting his textbooks in time for class.

Other factors complicate the life of an adjunct. They often teach at several institutions, meaning things like gas prices affect them more than regular faculty. They don't have much time to spend with students, and yet students don't understand why they're not around and take it out on them. "Where is Dr. Sanders office?" I get asked all the time, needing to then explain that Dr. Sanders is an adjunct, works full time, and therefore has no office. In return I usually get a blank stare. But the callousness of business students to the working man is not a subject for this post. Another time.

Enjoy the article below. Because it's in the careers section of the Chronicle, I think you can read it w/o a subscription.

We're Not Your Colleagues - Chronicle.com: "Adjunct faculty members are not really part of the academic division — not at this university and not, I suspect, at many others. A lot of us certainly want to be, but the tenured and tenure-track faculty members don't see us as colleagues. So far, after a year at the university, I have had only limited contact with my chairman, and I have yet to meet any of the full-time faculty members. I have not been included in any meetings, activities, surveys, discussions, or social events — except those invitations that got the mass-mailing treatment from the president's office.

It is apparent that my job is to teach a class and not cause problems or take up anyone's time.

As adjuncts, we must find our intrinsic value in the classroom, and universities continue to count on that to be enough to keep us coming back semester after semester. And if not, oh well — my own situation proves that adjuncts are replaceable on short notice."

Part 2

A School Where One Size Doesn't Fit All - washingtonpost.com: "Old divisions are to be discarded, he said. Students will ally with teachers to decide what and how to study. Subjects such as math and science might be studied together when it makes sense. Class periods won't necessarily adhere to strict time frames as students take large chunks of time for individual or group projects. Students of different ages will work together and learn from each other."

Sounds a bit chaotic, no?

A School Where One Size Doesn't Fit All - washingtonpost.com

A School Where One Size Doesn't Fit All - washingtonpost.com: "Much of Shusterman's plan is inspired by John Dewey, a 20th-century educational philosopher whose devotees have called for teachers to be 'guides on the side, not sages on the stage.' Dewey led a movement called progressive education in which, he said, children learn best when pursuing individual projects that allow them to explore their world."

Thought this was interesting. I like these sorts of project-based learning in theory, and students should definitely be involved in their own education as soon as possible. Their ownership of their learning makes them more invested.

The problem I have is, what's going to happen to reading? Can you encourage students to read? I'm in a "Great Books" (redefined) class right now, and one of my fellow students mentioned that her students were excited to read a Jodi Picoult novel. She hated making them put it away and turn to reading Lord of the Flies. I remember in middle school there was a series of witch books and Ann Rice's vampire series my friends loved to pass around. And yes, I would sit in the back of English class and read those books instead of... whatever was in the textbook. Great Expectations. Ugh. But some things I had to read in school, like Ayn Rand's Anthem, sparked an interest in reading more of her books.

There has to be a balance. We should find a way to encourage students to read what they want to into the curriculum, and yet make sure we're stretching them to new works, new ideas. Not many high schoolers will pick up a book of poetry, yet reading it can give them an appreciation for language in new ways. I still have lines from poems I read in high school run through my head, and although it was largely unsuccessful, enjoyed writing poems in high school and my early days of college. It's a great way for children to play with language. We must stretch them as well as letting them learn to enjoy reading.

In Closed Schools, History Lessons - washingtonpost.com

In Closed Schools, History Lessons - washingtonpost.com: "For Nancye Suggs, the call from D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee's office about nearly two dozen schools she planned to close was bittersweet: Suggs said that she was heartbroken about the loss, in one fell swoop, of so much history but that she was ecstatic Rhee was offering her a chance to retrieve some of it."

This is a great opportunity for anyone interested in oral history and the history of education. There might be a dissertation here. I'm tempted to do it myself, but it's not really my specialty.

U.S. National Commission for UNESCO Laura W. Bush Traveling Fellowship

I found the perfect funding opportunity to do my dissertation about Arabic speaking students in French schools! You know, the perfect dissertation, where I go and live in North Africa for a year? Awesome!

Except... I'm too old to apply for this now. But if you're between 18-25, check it out. I don't know why it's named after Laura Bush. But hey, why not. She's not bad, right?

U.S. National Commission for UNESCO Laura W. Bush Traveling Fellowship: "U.S. National Commission for UNESCO Laura W. Bush Traveling Fellowship"

Buildings & Grounds: Commuter-Rail Reading: 'Architectural Design and Ethics: Tools for Survival' - Chronicle.com

From the Chronicle of Higher Ed. Or "the Chronicle" as we in the field call it. I love, though, that our news is centered around University life, and yet includes just about every aspect of real life, from commuting to the environment to food to business. The cover of the Chronicle this week says "Price of Gas Fuels Tough Choices for Adjuncts."

Probably an article about my future as an adjunct.

In any case, what you realize is that academics do, in fact, study the real world. And without them we wouldn't have measured perspectives on a variety of issues. Like the Minneapolis bridge collapse, which provides fodder for Thomas Fisher's new book Architectural Design and Ethics: Tools for Survival. Looks super interesting, and is filled with aerial shots of Minnesota to discuss design issues in our environmental planning.

Buildings & Grounds: Commuter-Rail Reading: 'Architectural Design and Ethics: Tools for Survival' - Chronicle.com: "Commuter-Rail Reading: 'Architectural Design and Ethics: Tools for Survival'"

I feel a bit constrained(?)...

I feel a bit constrained(?) by this Jott medium because it's so short, it's just not enough time to really put thoughts into words. Okay, I think I'm out of time. listen

Powered by Jott

Back to Edu

So I haven't really been blogging about education policy, as you might have noticed. Intellectually I'm tied up by statistics, and emotionally - well, you can see I'm a bit distracted.

Besides all that, summer seems to be a bit of a slow time for education policy. Congress is in session, but not much has happened since the House and Senate committees voted on the Higher Education Act.

The NEA voted to endorce Obama. They weren't, like, THRILLED about it - but mostly because there was only one name on the ballot. Just like in Michigan's "Soviet-Style Primary."

OK That's the thoughts for the day. I'm adding Twitter updates to my blog. FYI.

I cannot brain today

Lolcats ‘n’ Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger?

Newness

I moved apartments. I love where we're living now (well, except for the ants and the fact we have no gas, therefore no way to cook). And we're on Capitol Hill - it feels like, for the first time, that I live in DC and not some anonymous (noisy) city. It's actually a lot quieter where we live - peaceful, really.

Summer's a slow time to work at a University. It's not that I don't have anything to do, it's that there's a lack of urgency to do it. Which means I'll spend August running around like the sky is falling, but oh well. Between moving and my statistics class and my mom getting injured this weekend, there's not been any time to care that much about work. I'll be down in Florida tending to my mom who shattered her ankle and can't put any pressure on it for at least two weeks. Of course, I can only go down for a couple of days but I suppose it's better than nothing. At least I can cook some food and freeze it for her to make life easier for a bit.

Life feels like a bit of a struggle right now. There's a lot that is new on the horizon, with the new apartment and more. I'm trying to work as hard and fast as I can on finishing my PhD, but life keeps getting in the way. There's never enough time or money. When I was little my grandma told me that you either have time or money. How come it feels like I have neither?

I'm also worried that as time passes, these trips like the one I'm taking to take care of Mom will become more and more frequent. I don't even have children yet, and already I'm starting to need to take care of my mom. I know there's a lot of good in the future for me, but I also see the challenges starting to take shape. Luckily I can bear them with a good teammate, B.

But I am a little scared, I have to admit.

the candidate

The office is a disaster. I'm eating a mildly unpleasant combination of microwaved soup and packaged brownie. For the campaign, I guess - I'll eat anything as long as it does not require leaving the office. Most people on the campaign eat junk, and at abnormal times. Lunch for me falls anywhere between 2:30 and 4:00. Dinner - I guess 10pm, if I remember. You'd think we'd lose weight, but because everything is packaged, we all look a bit puffy from sodium and sallow from too much time in a gray-carpeted office with florescent lighting.

The candidate breezes down the hall to my cube. "What's up, chief," I say. "Nicole!" he exclaims. He sits in the chair. We discuss the presidential race, and whether Hilary will take the VP slot. Or whether Barack will offer it to her. He says she would take it. I don't know if this is conjecture or if he actually knows. I choose to pretend that he actually knows, no matter what the issue. He is, after all, the candidate.

"What are you eating?" he says. I pick up the phone and order him a sandwich, and he starts to leave. "Turkey on wheat, lettuce, tomato, a little mustard and a little mayo. Yes... ok. 15 minutes? Can you do it in 10?"

He pops back in. "Oh, and I need two copies of that letter, printed on letterhead. Please." He says. A few minutes later, from his office, "Nicole - can you come look at my computer? It was doing this thing before when I was at the meeting..."

Being high up in the campaign seems like it would be glamorous. And I suppose it is. At events, I always have a photo with the candidate. I get to sit at the same table as him, and wear an appropriate-for-evening suit. I talk to other muckety-mucks. At other times, being high up in the campaign means I do the shit work when no one else is around to do it - because I'm never supposed to leave. When the candidate is fundraising with defense contractors, I'm in the office. When the candidate has meetings, I'm in the office. When the candidate spends time with his family, I'm in the office. When the candidate is sleeping, I'm in the office. When the candidate is in the office, I better be in the office. Once I had to take a bio break and it elicited a frown.

I'm accommodating. That's what a chief of staff for a candidate must do. I like to think of it as "managing up." The lies we tell ourselves keep us sane.

Arg.

I hate cars. Especially when THEY WON'T FREAKING START!

Just thought I'd share. Now back to waiting for the tow truck.

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

The first time I read this article, someone sent me an email and I got distracted after about, the fourth paragraph.

-Sigh- He's right... but what's the alternative? Even when I read it this Sunday, the TV was on and I was talking to my boyfriend.

Is Google Making Us Stupid?: "'Dave, stop. Stop, will you? Stop, Dave. Will you stop, Dave?” So the supercomputer HAL pleads with the implacable astronaut Dave Bowman in a famous and weirdly poignant scene toward the end of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Bowman, having nearly been sent to a deep-space death by the malfunctioning machine, is calmly, coldly disconnecting the memory circuits that control its artificial brain. “Dave, my mind is going,” HAL says, forlornly. “I can feel it. I can feel it.”

I can feel it, too. Over the past few years I’ve had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory."

And another thing....

I just watched Meet the Press, and was reminded that I saw this rainbow. Tim Russert's funeral was on Wednesday, and after the memorial service at the Kennedy Center, everyone walked out and saw this rainbow over Washington. I was on Capitol Hill, looking for a new apartment with my boyfriend. I dropped him off at Union Station to catch the metro back home, and turned the corner. Right in front of me was a beautiful rainbow, the kind that takes your breath away.

It was the same rainbow everyone exiting Russert's memorial service saw, having just listened to the ukulele version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow (which also happened to be one of 'my best friend's and her husband's first dance song). A "Russert Miracle," everyone said.

I'm so glad I saw it. I couldn't go to the wake - had already left work so many times to look at apartments. Because I saw it, though, I feel like I was able to say goodbye to Tim Russert as well.

From Haddad, T. "Stumper: The Russert Miracles." Newsweek, 6/19/08: "When asked his reaction to explain the sudden appearance of the rainbow at the exact moment, Luke Russert, his sparkly smile so reminiscent of his father's, said: "Is anyone still an atheist now?"

Zimbabwe

I normally don't write about international issues - partly because I think my focus is on domestic education policy, but also because the US media doesn't tend to focus as much on international issues. Well, except for Iraq. I usually get my international news from NPR in the mornings on my way to work.

This morning, though, I saw this on the cover of the online NY Times... and what struck me was how heroic this decision was. Morgan Tsvangiari dropped out of the run-off election in Zimbabwe, saying he could not ask people to vote for him and die. On one hand, it's terrible that the situation in Zimbabwe is so dire. On the other had, Tsvangiari realized that by putting himself forward, many would die - and so chose for them to live.

I saw the movie Hotel Rwanda a few weeks ago. We got it from Netflix and it sat there for a coule of weeks - I really wanted to see it, but knew how hard it would to be to watch. And it was. The worst part was when Western countries came to pick up their foreign nationals in the country, and left all the Africans behind. The man in the movie saved so many - but so many more died because of an arbitrary tribal distinction. Well, arbitrary to me. Maybe it meant something at some point. After it was over, I just sat there and cried.

I think what Tsvangiari has done has allowed Zimbabwe to perhaps avoid worse killing, to avoid Rwanda - and maybe find another path to healing, if the world will pay attention and help.

The Associated Press: Tim Russert warmly remembered on 'Meet the Press'

Update: Thought I'd post this picture of Tim's son, Luke, with the empty chair. He took it - and says he's going to keep it forever. I'm rooting for that kid.

It was a good show. Seeing Tim Russert's chair empty, though... pretty sad.

The Associated Press: Tim Russert warmly remembered on 'Meet the Press': "Tim Russert warmly remembered on 'Meet the Press'"

Still Sad

I can't believe how sad I still feel about Tim Russert.

This morning Meet the Press will be on, but Tim won't be there. It's hard to believe how quickly heart disease can take people. The same thing happened with my first boss - a different kind of heart problem, but a similar sudden passing. He was away on a trip with our 9th grade students in the Grand Canyon, and a weakness in his artery just gave way. I think how all the folks at NBC feel must be how we felt at our school. Somone who nurtured our careers, who made a family of the place, was suddenly taken from us and we couldn't quite understand how or why. We went on teaching - I remember my face feeling tight and sad, but getting up there in front of my students and teaching them a real lesson, because I thought that was what was best for them and for me. You get up in front of the class, in front of the camera, and you work - because for some reason it calms the tight sadness in your chest and holds back the tears.

What's so strange about the modern world is how we have so many people come into our homes on a regular basis, so much so we feel like we know them. As a news junkie, Tim Russert was one of those people for me. But Keith Olbermann, Andrea Mitchell, Tom Brokaw, and Matt Lauer are too, and seeing the sadness in their faces just makes me know that they feel what we felt when we lost John at 46. Just like Tim Russert, John Cosentino was a vibrant man who loved life, and we felt at our school, loved us.

So if you can, say a little prayer for Tim Russert and his family - and say one for John Cosentino and his family. I always try to remember that at every Mass, from baptisms to weddings to funerals, the priest says, "Let us give thanks to the Lord our God," and we respond, "It is right to give him thanks and praise." Our time here is so short, and it is right to give Him thanks and praise that we were here at all.

Tim Russert Dead At 58: NBC's Tom Brokaw Reports - Media on The Huffington Post

Tom Brokaw, paying tribute to Tim Russert, in this video via the Huffington Post.

Tim Russert Dead At 58: NBC's Tom Brokaw Reports - Media on The Huffington Post

Shock

I can't believe how sad I feel about Tim Russert's passing.

My mom called me, to make sure I knew, because every time I come visit her I watch Tim Russert. It's rare that a Sunday goes by when I don't watch him on Meet the Press. For the past six years, I watched him every week. I feel like he's a familiar friend, even though I never met him. His enthusiasm for politics and true goodness shone through to those of us watching on TV. I think about 1/2 of the conversations my boyfriend and I have involved Tim Russert. "Well, Tim Russert said this about it." He was the authority. We trusted him, we believed him, and we knew he would always ask the right questions and tell the truth. And we always knew he would root for the Buffalo Bills and the Boston College Eagles.

I feel for his family - so many people who had never met him loved him and are terribly sad, and how awful they must feel at this sudden and shocking loss. May God take care of them, and welcome Tim to heaven. Maybe he and my Gram can have a chat.

'Meet the Press' Host Collapses at Work.

Passing my quantitative analysis class

This is what I hate - I need to live, eat, sleep, and breathe statistics in order to pass my quantitative analysis class. I guess it starts now. Notecard making, here I come.

Finally - Education!

This is why I'm excited now. I heard the future last night coming through my radio.

Obama's speech on the occasion of becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee for the President of the United States: "we can't afford to leave the money behind for No Child Left Behind; that we owe it to our children to invest in early childhood education; to recruit an army of new teachers and give them better pay and more support; to finally decide that in this global economy, the chance to get a college education should not be a privilege for the wealthy few, but the birthright of every American. That's the change we need in America. That's why I'm running for President."

Is it really over?

Apparently, it's all over but the shoutin'... or, in this case, speechmakin'. Obama wins, Clinton concedes, life goes on. And still, is education a big issue in the race?

78% of voters call it a top priority - see the quote and link from the Pew Poll below. Maybe the candidates will start paying better attention. Obama has come out and said that everyone should be bilingual or trilingual. I agree. Let's fund it.

Overview: McCain's Negatives Mostly Political, Obama's More Personal: "The survey finds that just 18% say they are satisfied with state of the nation - the lowest percentage in two decades of People-Press polls. Reflecting the widespread unhappiness with the national economy, an overwhelming proportion of respondents say the economy (88%) and jobs (78%) will be very important in their vote. In addition, roughly three-quarters each name healthcare, education, energy and Social Security as very important."

2 Colleges End Entrance Exam Requirement - NYTimes.com

You can tell that I haven't been reading the news. Can you believe this? Its very interesting. When Harvard stopped early admissions, a dozen other colleges followed suit. I don't think the same will happen here, although Wake-Forest is ranked 30th according to US News and could impact other schools pulling from a similar pool of applicants.

The schools cite the failure of SATs to predict college success and the need to attract a more diverse population of students. Also, and interestingly, many students still submit their SAT scores since they need to do so for other colleges.

I am once again torn between my personal experience and my feeling for what's best for education. I was always proud of my high SAT score, but I'm willing to acknowledge that the fact that I went to great (public) schools and had parents who were engaged in my learning from an early age contributed greatly to those scores. Cultural factors seem to play an important role in how well people do on these tests.

I do think the scores can show a high aptitude for learning, retaining, and analyzing knowledge, but I don't know how well the scores predict in general college success which, depending on your major, requires a wide array of skills. I had always read they were one of the best indicators, the same way that LSATs predict with relative accuracy law school success. I don't know if GREs are the same way... it's such a watered-down test that I feel like it has little meaning.

I'll dig a little and see what I can find.

2 Colleges End Entrance Exam Requirement - NYTimes.com: "Smith College, a women’s college in Northampton, Mass., and Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., will no longer require prospective students to submit SAT or ACT scores as part of their applications."

On the Uses and Abuses of Laptops in Education | Beyond School

Another blogger I like (from Beyond School) talking about teachers who view blogs as just another way to turn in homework.

I'm struck by what she's talking about and the similarities to bell hooks and Teaching to Transgress. Creating democracy in the classroom, one of the last bastions of dictatorship, threatens schools as we know them.

On the Uses and Abuses of Laptops in Education | Beyond School: "And it will become drudgery. And the students (not learners here, because “teacher” can’t let go of being “teacher,” dominating, squelching, and dictating to students) will bang out the minimum for “blog homework,” as in old days, and turn to something authentic. Like their MySpace."

Another Naysayer Stirs the Pot | 2¢ Worth

Commentary from a blogger I like on Mark Bauerlein's The Dumbest Generation. He's a pro-techie blogger, and I agree with what he says about the internet being the new pencil and paper. I still think students should be engaging with text, though.

Another Naysayer Stirs the Pot | 2¢ Worth: "Computers and the Internet are the pencil and paper of our time — and insisting that our children can learned to be ready for their future by scratching and stamping text on paper and reading published textbooks, is like saying that children could learn with clay tablets, long after paper was widely used. Computers and the Internet have changed how information works and how we work it. Kids can’t learn this in five-year-old textbooks and spiral notebooks."

InsideCatholic.com - Chaput on 'Catholics for Obama'

This is interesting. I'm not too keen on the Catholic Church telling me who to vote for, but I feel that my conscience tells me that voting for someone who cares about the preservation of life in Iraq and providing for the poor is important. More important than pro-life issues.

InsideCatholic.com - Chaput on 'Catholics for Obama': "Chaput on 'Catholics for Obama'"

PS It's written by my friend from college!

Finishing that last darn paper for the semester

Once I'm done with this I'm hoping to write for pleasure again, although this originally should have been a "write for pleasure" type paper.

I am totally revamping this the day before it is due. Of course. Why would I make it easy on myself and just cosmetically edit? I thought by sharing some I could help hash out some thoughts. For a little background, the paper is about the challenges of being both a teacher/administrator to a group of students and performing research "on" them. I put "on" in quotes because my view of the ethnography I do is that I am doing research "with" them but that's another post.

From a historical view, the traditional role of the college as functioning in loco parentis plays a factor in addressing the conflict between teacher and researcher on campus. While the role of the elementary and secondary school to protect the children enrolled there during the day is clear, the role of colleges in protecting their majority students is less well-defined. In colonial America colleges did not see students as adults, and took a role in governing their behavior while on campus (Bowden, Randall. "Evolution of Responsibility: From in Loco Parentis to Ad Meliora Vertamur." Education 127, no. 4 (2007). Until the 1970s, most students on college campuses were legally considered minors. In 1971 the 26th amendment lowered the voting age to 18 from 21, and many states lowered the age of majority to 18 as well. The doctrine of in loco parentis has transformed from one of pastoral care of students through rules and regulation to a contractual agreement.
How care for students plays out at various campuses varies as well according to tradition and culture. At my undergraduate institution, Sewanee, we had a rich history of care of students body, mind and soul. The school is owned by Southern Episcopal dioceses, and the care for students stems mostly from this religious foundation. The tradition extends to many on campus. When I missed too many French classes, due to what I thought at the time was being "sick" but was actually a nervous breakdown because of my parents divorce, my French teacher called me to tell me I had to come to class. Most of my professors took attendance; if you were absent, they noticed.
The care extended beyond punitive measures. Many senior seminars took place in professors' homes. They often provided snacks and beverages during a break in the sessions. The dress tradition I have already mentioned intends to aid students to take their studies seriously and teach them to dress for their future. Freshmen at Sewanee are grouped into "AP Groups" and have an Assistant Proctor, usually a junior student, to guide them in activities and provide advice throughout their first year at college. Most of the dorms are staffed by a matron, women who were traditionally widows of Episcopal priests who came and spent the rest of their days serving as a dorm mother to students. Most Sewanee students also lived in single-sex dorms, and members of the opposite sex were not permitted in dorms after midnight, even in common areas. From clothing to sexual activity, Sewanee was involved in most aspects of students' lives.

That's good, right? I hope? I hope it doesn't sound too negative - I love the in loco parentis of Sewanee. I'm shocked at how little care the school where I currently work seems to have for students. The fact that I am one of the people who cares for them most and I'm so little involved in their lives - well, to me, it just seems sad. I could never invite students to my house without raising more than a few eyebrows. I really miss the community of learning I had at Sewanee. I felt so well cared for there.

Eviction Day

It appears to have been eviction day yesterday in my neighborhood. The first time I saw an eviction, I commented to my boyfriend, "Wow. Someone's getting rid of a lot of stuff." He looked at me and said, "I think they were evicted." It wasn't a concept that I was familiar with growing up in suburban Orlando.

I think that the landlords in my neighborhood are going to kicking more and more families to the curb as the neighborhood gentrifies and they can charge more for rent. The family I saw picking through their stuff the other day looked stoic, resigned. There wasn't an outcry of grief the way that I would expect, or that I would probably feel if someone kicked me out of my home.

This morning on the way to the metro there was a half empty beer bottle on one of the mattresses. This afternoon, on my way back to my apartment, everything was gone.

Hard Roads Ahead - New York Times

Hard Roads Ahead - New York Times: "As Mr. Wise put it, “The best economic stimulus package is a diploma.”"

I missed this column by Bob Herbert this weekend in the Times. It's a good read and makes a good point, one that I made in my entry about being disappointed at the presidential candidates' failure to talk about education.

The future is scary.

Capuchins and Priests

I didn't become a active (and baptizes and confirmed) member of the Catholic Church until college. Then I graduated, and my church attendance fell off. Partly it was the priests scandal, partly it was the sudden transformation of a church I thought cared about social justice and the poor into part of the anti-gay, anti-woman Republican machine, and partly it was because it's also weird to go to church randomly and by yourself as a 23, 26, or 29 year old.

The pope visited and my boyfriend and I started talking about how we wanted to help the church care more about social justice than the regulation of people's sex lives. So we decided to join the church, actually the Shrine, across the street from us. Not only did we start attending mass, but we're also engaged now with a group of people who is interested in social justice issues and pursuing them. And everyone else is liberal too - but in the best kind of way, where they care about the poor and those who don't have the blessings we all seem to have.

My new priest is also a Capuchin, and I'm meeting with a college friend of mine today who's getting his PhD in theology. I'm hoping to ask him about how a Capuchin becomes a priest. My priest also wants to learn more about educational research, and how he can influence the order to see how having a college degree doesn't necessarily make one a better priest. I think he feels alienated from many in his order who are craftsmen rather than intellectuals. I'm hoping my research can help!

Gen Y = big bucks

This millennial generation business sells a lot of books and creates a lot of consulting opportunities for "experts."

There are so many books and consultants out there that are starting to jump into this. Is it real? Is it an imagined crisis? I think there are some real differences between the current generation in college and mine. I don't know if the reading and writing that students do digitally is making up for the reading and writing we did in books and on paper. I still love books - they are my favorite thing. I'm trying not to pass judgment, to keep an open mind that digital media can open up new ways of learning and appeal to the multiple intelligences... yet I have a strong bias that real knowledge and thinking comes from sitting along, struggling with a text. Now, if you're reading that online through Project Guttenberg, or something to that effect, I think it can have a democratizing effect.

But if thinking and struggling through texts isn't happening... I don't know. It doesn't seem like learning to me.

More U Kan Reed?

In a review of The Dumbest Generation, Charles McGrath talks about a book by Christine Hassler and how it verifies much of what Mark Bauerlein fears about Gen Y.

Now, I have to include a disclaimer, because as since I am in-between the much-talked about and disparaged Generation X and the much-talked about and much celebrated Millennial Generation. I think some of these generalizations are overblown. I also think they have a tendency to describe the middle-class white part of the generation and not much else. What about students who don't go to college, or who work and attend community college? Are they constantly on IM and text messaging? I think if these researchers relied on more than generalizations about a few students whom they happen to know, they might see beyond and make a more complex and nuanced argument.

But nuance does not sell books. Again, I haven't read the book and I'm not sure that unless I can get it from the library anytime soon that I will - my book budget needs to be cut because I spend too much money on them!

Growing Up for Dummies - New York Times: "According to Christine Hassler, author of “20 Something Manifesto: Quarter-Lifers Speak Out About Who They Are, What They Want and How to Get It,” they’re not just floundering, they’re often anxious and miserable, suffering from something like menu overload: there are just too many choices to make. The result is often a feeling of stasis and letdown that Ms. Hassler calls Expectation Hangover, a phrase she is so fond of she has trademarked it."

One more post before I go to bed...

Thinking about the last post, what does the dearth of reading in this generation mean for teaching? How do you teach to students who don't - or won't - or can't - read?

How can you help them learn to write? I know there are so many people with blogs (and most, like me, have about 4 readers)... practicing writing is good, but it has to be an intentional practice. If I can't form complete sentences.

For example. Hahaha. I think that blogs and online forums have allowed for people to experiment with language, but in many arenas clarity, succinct writing, and basic understanding of grammar is still necessary for communication. Good writing skills shouldn't something amazing - they should be something everyone can attain.

Spelling, now, that's another matter.

U Kan Reed?

This article makes many of the same arguments (apparently - I haven't read it!) as The Age of American Unreason, by Susan Jacoby. I'm still working through that book, which traces the origins and history of our current disinterest and distrust of learning.

This new book talks about how we're ignoring the lack of intellectual activity going on in the generation coming up. I'm wondering if their ability to manipulate digital and visual media might not reveal some skills that we haven't thought of yet; however, I don't think that anything good can come of the lack of reading and writing.

Can U Read Kant? - WSJ.com: "To Mark Bauerlein, a professor of English at Emory University, the present is a good time to be young only if you don't mind a tendency toward empty-headedness. In 'The Dumbest Generation,' he argues that cultural and technological forces, far from opening up an exciting new world of learning and thinking, have conspired to create a level of public ignorance so high as to threaten our democracy."

More on impactful...

The order of these posts got a bit mussed up, since I'm discovering how to highlight text in pages and then click "Post to Blogger" right from my computer. Which is great - because it allows for easier linking and posting.

This exchange about a Coke slogan - Dansani Water. Everyday. - and how it's stupid - appeared in Harper's Magazine and explains, pretty much, why the word impactful is so stupid.

Open Brackets: "Coke. Izzit."

Language Snob

We had a discussion about sticklers for grammar in writing workshops in my class the other day. I think that I've gotten a little better about my distaste for split infinitives and ending sentences with prepositions (although I reserve the right to correct my students).

Yet I continue to have a problem with jargon in writing. I have especially come to dislike the following: synergy, impactful, and leveraged. I especially hate it when I find myself using them.

I posted a post below about "impactful" and a funny exchange featured in Harper's.

Barack Obama Loses WV - Shocker!

That's all I had to say.

Go Magic!

Symbolic Leadership

Lately I've been thinking a lot about symbolic leadership. I just finished a class that had us look at organizations through a variety of frames - bureaucratic, collegial, political, cybernetic, and cultural/symbolic.

Given my interest in ethnography and cultural traditions, I'm drawn to the symbolic frame. There are several ways to see this frame in an organization. Climate or culture of the organization is one. The heros/heroines of the organization is another. Meanings of actions, how things are interpreted, is another. There are some close linkages between the symbolic frame of leadership and the political frame, which is all about power. He who sets the agenda has power; he who interprets the events for everyone else has power. (orshe. got it.)

I'm looking at a way to tie this to ethnography, because I think its an important notion for looking at organizations as cultures and how leaders operate within them. Also, I have a negative view of symbolic leadership, as emphasizing meaning over action. Roseberg's (2004) controversial article on Brown vs. Board of Education talks about how sometimes, a powerful symbol can fool people into thinking that no more action needs to be taken on a particular issue. (I only know the article was controversial because he says in the article that it was controversial. I guess this is a catch-22. I should find out more.)

I'd like to think a bit more on the positive aspects of symbolic leadership, and how leaders create organizational culture.

Hey blog readers, I...

Hey blog readers, I am just testing out this new service called Jott. It's recording my voice, and posting it on my blog. I thought that was pretty cool. Talk to you later. listen

Powered by Jott

How to transform an academic

This article talks about how I might find employment as a tenure-track faculty member one day.

Well, not that specifically. You'll see!

FT.com / Features of the week - How to transform an academic:
How to transform an academic By Rebecca Knight

More evidence for a professional journal

This came up in class today... quelle surprise, because it's the one thing that I always think that if I did it, my professional life would be enhanced.

Professional journaling allows not only for immediate reflection on your work, but also creates a more long-term record. That way, when you become the leader that you once disagreed with (I hate ending in prepositions, but I'm in class so I have to be quick), you can look back at your journal to improve your practice.

Disappointed

I'm disappointed in how seldom any of the presidential candidates talk about education. Michelle Obama has said a few things (she's a great speaker, by the way), but my girl Hillary has said nada. I mean, at least in a big way.

Of course, in many ways, that's because traditionally education is a more local issue. Our school boards and local councils and mayors have more of an impact on education than the president does. I know Fenty being the mayor of DC has had a greater impact on schools than Bush.

In a lot of ways the president sets the symbolic tone - sort of the "theme" that will impact education. Accountability, access... whatever the theme is, that's what "street level bureaucrats' (Weatherly and Lipsky, from 1977) will enact on the ground. The reality, of course, ends up being quite different from the goals set on high.

Exciting News!

OK everyone - I have exciting news.

I just purchased the domain name symbolandsubstance.com!

So maybe this blog will become part of my larger web efforts. I'm so excited! Now when I'm wasting time at work, I can work on that instead of facebook.

Yesss! Symbol and Substance 2.0, here I come!

Yikes.

In an age of accountability...

The problem with making this kind of move, allowing the governor's daughter to receive an Executive MBA w/o finishing her coursework, is that it makes many people look bad. Like A) West Virgina University, B) the governor of WV, C) his daughter, D) and the stupid provost who gave her the degree.

Notice the fact that these two titles use different terms. Degree vs. transcript. I don't know why CHE chose that word; it seems inaccurate. Also, I'd like to point out that a five-member faculty panel had to take time out of research/teaching to find that the university acted inappropriately. What is the mission of a university again? Who knows.

Vicki Smith. "West Virginia University dean resigns in degree scandal." The Associated Press. 4/28/08

"West Virginia U. Provost Resigns Over Transcript Scandal Involving Governor's Daughter." The Chronicle of Higher Education News Blog. 4/27/08.

Oh, Atlanta....

...I hear you calling, I'm coming back to you, one fine day...

Just got back from Atlanta, from YAW (yet another wedding). I was there for 24 hours, mostly due to the machinations (or lack thereof) of American Airlines. Thanks, FAA! I loved being at Chicago O'Hare for 6 hours. Mostly in planes that I then had to get off.

Lots of Atlanta ruminations. I forgot how much time I spent there in college. It all came back as I got lost on the winding roads lined with leafy green trees, just like I did almost ten summers ago.

I'd love to go back to Atlanta and spend some real time - it's surprisingly beautiful, I didn't remember that. Plus there are a lot of people I love there, and I got to see a couple of them. Hopefully B and I can go back and see more wonderful Southern friends. Although now we're talking about doing a bourbon-tasting trip through Tennessee and Kentucky. That, of course, means a requisite trip to Sewanee, possibly my favorite place on Earth besides the street I lived on in Paris in 2002.

Back to life. I think I may have to spend my day doing schoolwork at the office. I hate doing that, but at this point there's just no way around it.

Still snow, no day.

Anyone notice that I blogged about Cops right between two blog entries lamenting the loss of American intellectualism?

Irony. I haz it.

Snow no day

Just commenting that it's snowing, and although I'll probably fall down walking outside of my building and then slip and slide driving home, the University will not cancel classes. Jerks.

"Americans iz Dum" is Everywhere!

Lots of others are blogging about Jacoby's new book and her editorial in the Post. Open Culture, one of my favorite blogs, has a favorable commentary and compares it to other recent books including Al Gore's Assault on Reason (out in paperback in April).

Joanne Jacobs, another educational blogger, uses the article to decry the criticisms of teachers "teaching to the test" and lambaste rote learning, which as I recall from my days as a French teacher, actually works quite well to get students speaking the language. Makes me feel like saying "Darn Liberal Bloggers" until I remember, oh yeah, aren't I a Hillary Clinton supporter? Guess that makes me a liberal blogger too.

Guilty Pleasures

When my boyfriend was away taking bar classes every weekend, on Friday nights I would order takeout and watch "Cops" and "America's Most Wanted." It's definitely lowbrow compared to when I lived along and watched, at the very least, CSI.

Now I come to discover that this is a guilty pleasure for many. 5 million people a week watch it! And mostly because of the lovable criminals. One I watched recently featured a lady who beat up her boyfriend and got arrested for it. They came to the trailer park, and heard "both sides of the story" from the slightly drunk suspects. At the end the encounter dissolved into the boyfriend saying, "I love her but she beats me!" Now that's entertainment.

"For 20 Years, A Pleasure So Guilty it's Criminal." (Carlson, P. The Washington Post. 2/19/08)

I'm not the only snob

A good friend just sent me the link to this editorial, written by Susan Jacoby, author of The Age of American Unreason.

I agree with a lot of what she says, but I do think we need to be cautious that reading online is still reading. I encounter a lot of students who are incredibly intelligent every day who rarely read a book. Does it bother me that the literary lions I read in college now seem obsolete? Sure... but I don't think that by forcing people read on paper is the way to get them there. We have to draw a line between preserving the good in the classical canon and throwing out the useful in the current one.

"The Dumbing of America." (Jacoby, S. The Washington Post. 2/17/08.)

Web 2.0

I'm thinking of starting a new blog for using web 2.0 in the college classroom to create a customized learning experience.

It seems there's tons out there for k-12.... "Bloggers to Learn From," for example.

Whattya think?

Rah Rah Rhee

Yikes. A nice example, here, of a machine bureaucracy.

At McDonalds, the quintessential machine bureaucracy, employees receive a detailed checklist entailing how to serve customers. There is a smile. Check. There is eye contact. Check. the customer has to give the order only once. Check. The order is assembled in the proper sequence. Check. Drinks are poured in the proper sequence. Check. Proper amount of ice. Check.

In a machine bureaucracy, management holds all the power, makes all the decisions. The employees - burger flippers, cashiers, and now, at least in DC, teachers - do little more that run off the script. They are easy to replace.

At 27 failing DC schools, at least part of the solution in elementary school classrooms would be scripted lessons. A teacher receives a script and reads it, and that is teaching. It's a "teacher-proof" curriculum, and I think the real goal behind "innovations" such as these is to break the back of the tenured teachers and the union. Once they quit, the schools can hire "better" teachers. Or at least ones who don't remember life before scripted teaching.

Makes me wish you could just fire bad teachers instead of insulting the profession in this way. On some level, policy makers think we are little more than automatons - machines to recite and have students repeat.

Every plan like this has multiple goals. I don't see how it helps to further denigrate teachers and our profession. That being said, there are plenty of crappy, lazy, not very smart teachers out there. We must find a way to rid the system of them without insulting the artistry of the good teachers who are also out there.

Unlike burger flippers, most teachers received certification and a certain level of education to do their jobs. It's not supposed to be a high school or college job to get you through - it's supposed to be the destination.

Ms. Rhee, I'm disappointed. Fire bad teachers and bad principals. Find a way to do it so that we don't become shadows of what once was a great profession.

"Rhee Weighs Ideas to Fix 27 Schools." (Haynes, V.D. The Washington Post. 2/18/08)

Pedagogy and Learning

First, just to clarify...

pedagogy, n. The art, occupation, or practice of teaching. Also: the theory or principles of education; a method of teaching based on such a theory. (From OED, 2005)

learning, vbl, n. 1. The action of the vb. LEARN. a. The action of receiving instruction or acquiring knowledge; spec. in Psychol., a process which leads to the modification of behaviour or the acquisition of new abilities or responses, and which is additional to natural development by growth or maturation; (freq. opp. insight).

So. There we are. The question is, how to we update learning? And is our desire to have the theory of how people learn getting in the way of how people actually learn? I watched one of my students stand in front of the classroom yesterday and ask if the rest of the class remembered 2nd grade, when they were excited about learning. She held up a textbook as an example of the irrelevancy of current education practices to their lives, and said, "Let's get back to 2nd grade." It was inspiring, to say the least.

And then I come across these two items in other blogs. It's a movement, people!

This from 2¢ Worth. "Our efforts should not be to integrate technology into the classroom, but to define and facilitate a new platform on which the classroom operates. When the platform is confined by classroom walls, and learning experiences spring from static textbooks and labored-over white boards, and the learning is highly prescribed, then pedagogy is required."

"Podcast: With Dean Shareski on _Natural_ Global Collaboration and Networked Learning." (Burell, C. Beyond School. 2/13/08)

"Is Pedagogy Getting in the Way of Learning?" (Warlick, D. 2¢ Worth. No idea of date.)

Ok, ok - I'm a horrible snob.

But this book seems dead-on to me. The review in the NYT is also funny. This phrase, thought, is what struck me as something that plays out in my daily life - at work, in my classes, in my encounters with students, on TV.

"something different is happening: anti-intellectualism (the attitude that “too much learning can be a dangerous thing”) and anti-rationalism (“the idea that there is no such things as evidence or fact, just opinion”) have fused in a particularly insidious way."

I recall a time I had an argument with a friend about a particular issue. I love this friend dearly, so I'm going to attempt to change details. It wasn't about the friend, really, but the idea expressed. We were having a conversation with a conservative about the issue of obesity in America. The view of the conservative young man was that people were responsible for their own weight, health, etc - it was their fault for being fat, basically. This view has been repeated on the Republican campaign trail - we need to create health care programs that encourage people to take care of themselves, realize the costs, etc. My friend was adamant that it was the responsibility of the government to regulate the things that make people fat. She started vehemently defending the idea that it's the availability of junk food that is making people fat.

I later asked her if she had any data on the issue, because there could be many reasons why people, especially in certain populations, are overweight. Lack of safe places to exercise, cultural factors that encourage heaviness, and an overabundance of junk food could all be factors. Without some information, thought, her argument was based on little more than an opinion.

Now she turned her ire on me - it was clear she was passionate about the issue, but knew little about it. "I'm not going to do research on every issue, Nicole, this is just something I feel." I tried one last time to make my case that a little information would help her to make a good argument when confronted with conservative, "pull yourself up by the bootstrap" jerk-faces, but then I gave up.

I know not everyone can/has the desire to attend a graduate program, but I believe that graduate programs improve your writing skills, teach you to verify your opinions and views with research, and generally improve your ability to think critically about issues. I don't like it when people argue with me and they've done no research, and I've done plenty. Not that all research is right, but if you argue with a basis of "this is how I feel...." it's impossible to argue with that. And then I'm left feeling as if my years of work and study on a particular issue means nothing in our culture.

I have so much more to say now that I've started writing about this - moral relativism, the academic tendency to believe in quantitative rather than qualitative data - but I'll hold off.


"Dumb and Dumber: Are Americans Hostile to Knowledge?" (Cohen, P. The New York Times. 2/14/08).

Irony

I open my planner today at 3:17pm, and come across the road map/compass slip that you put into the ruler that keeps the place on your day. I had all these big plans to outline the big things I need to accomplish this week (Stephen Covey's "Big Rocks"), and really take back my life by defining my own roles.

But now it's 3:24pm and I've spent most of the day doing what everybody else wants me to do.

goals. i haz dem.

So the other day in my class our professor asked us to delineate a 10-year plan. At first I was sort of annoyed. I've read The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and similar books. They all say the same thing - make your goals explicit, share them with others, etc. And I believe those authors are right about what they say.

But when asked to do it on the spot, in front of other people - I'm a little reluctant. I have a lot that goes on in my head, plans, thoughts, ideas, dreams, outline of the perfect living room... ha, no seriously, came up with that yesterday. But share them? So I decided I would say I wanted to be dean. Dean of what, dunno. But dean of a college, education, business, something along those lines. And then once I jokingly proposed it, I realized that it actually was something that would be a good fit. I like working both inside/outside a college. I can be political. I have vision (I think) although sometimes when I express it I feel like people don't like it. The great thing about being dean is that it's a good stretch - I need to learn some skills along the way to attain that kind of position, but they're all skills that would improve my professional career anyway and skills I'm already developing.

The problem is that right now, my life is in flux, both personally and professionally. When I mapped out a year ago where I would be, this isn't quite what I planned - not that I had a definite map, but this particular situation wasn't on the radar. It seems as if goals, roles, duties, my life, is being dictated by those around me and not by me, and I suddenly feel out of control.

Which is why I'm writing. A while back when I was going strong with the "7 habits" I wrote out my all the things I wanted to be, do, have, etc. Looking back was interesting, because although I know a lot of the things by heart, I don't act on them on a day to day basis. And when I answered the question, "What is the one thing you could do in your professional life that would have the most positive impact?" the answer was, writing. The personal life one was exercise. I've been better about that recently.

So I'm writing my way out of this hole of "why am I not defining my own life right now?" Maybe I'll get out of it, or maybe this is just useless navel gazing. Either way - I'm trying.

Haters

I knew I liked Stanley Fish.

"A Calumny A Day to Keep Hillary Away." (Fish, S. The New York Times. 2/10/08)

"All You Need is Hate." (Fish, S. The New York Times. 2/3/08)

Ugh

Apparently I went to the wrong grad school.

OELA Newsline: The George Washington University Receives $600,000 for Math and Science Study.

Thpppt...

As you can see my career as a major campaign operative went "thppppppt...." I hate campaigning. I can't do it. It's exhausting - I'm an educator and a scholar. I can't go, knock on people's doors on a random Thursday during the day when they're all at work anyway, fake a smile, and ask them to vote for so-and-so. I'm too busy wondering about them as an ethnographer. Now, if I were to go and do an actual ethnography of a campaign - I'm sure it's been done, right? - that would be amazing. But I wouldn't actually have to campaign. I could do what I do best, observe, write, interview, and question. I don't do well when I can't question the system.

Moving on to real life. I am back taking classes almost full time and working full time. Wow, I didn't realize there were 30 hours in a day. Just kidding. I like what I'm doing, although my research last semester apparently raised issues with some of the students - they think I'm in the witness protection program for researchers, that this job is a cover, blah blah blah. Apparently I'm a spy.

But life continues - I can't help being an ethnographer 24 hours a day. It's kind of like being a teacher. Once you realize how much you can learn just by paying attention and taking notes on what people do, you suddenly can't stop doing it. Every where I go, I think would make a great ethnography project. Campaigns. Restaurants. Conferences. Summer camp. Airports. Highways. Whatever. Anywhere people are, you can see what they're doing, ask them some questions, and learn something.

I'm in two classes this semester: one is an advanced ethnography writing seminar, and the second is a class on organization and administration of higher education. For the ethnography seminar I'm continuing to look at teams. For the admin class, I'm learning basic organizational theory - which I love. I'm going to analyze a problem in my program and look at it from different lenses - cultural/symbolic, political, organization, and something called cybernetic (sp?).

I'm blogging again because I actually created a blog entry for students in one of our classes - and I realized that writing is when I really get my wheels turning and have new ideas. So we'll see how it works.

Trip to NH

So I haven't posted in awhile, but I wanted to document my campaign journal!

Yesterday I left my house at 8am to take a trip to Manchester NH to campaign. Those of you who know me will know for whom I'm campaigning.... I don't want to get the campaign in trouble, so I will leave it at that!

In any case, I boarded the first leg of my trip to Philly. I arrived and grabbed a slice of pizza, and then headed to the gate for the Manchester flight. Upon arriving I saw that it was "Cancelled." Due to heavy snow, the Manchester airport was closed. Snow had been predicted for that evening, but arrived early. I've found in my time in New York that snow never quite behaves the way the forecasters expect it to.

Great. So with a bunch of New Hampshirites, I got in line to re-book. A few started asking me why I was going to New Hampshire, and I told them to campaign for my candidate! This elicited a few eye rolls, but for the most part they were true to the stereotype of New Hampshire voters - grumpy but engaged. One woman started talking about the factory in her town that recently closed. Another thought that we should spend more money in the US than abroad. A third joked he was going to put a big sign on his barn, which is off of I-93 with my candidate's name - and an "X" through it.

I managed to get another flight, this one to Laguardia. After a few hours of layover, I finally boarded a cold flight for Manchester. We touched down in a snow covered airport, and I made the hairy drive up to the Lakes Region.

I arrived in the Laconia office and immediately started doing data entry. Most of the people in the office are the age of my students. or a little older... but fun. They told me that "this is the best office - the nicest people!" It's certainly better than Dover, where I was four years ago for another presidential campaign. Apparently the vistas while out canvassing are quite lovely.

At about 10:30pm, after doing a ton of data entry, I headed on the snowy and dark roads to my "supporter housing," a beautiful red and green house on one of the lakes up here. I had a cup of tea, chatted for awhile with the woman hosting me, took a shower, and then fell fast asleep.

When I woke up, it was sunny and bright - no longer the blizzard that canceled my flight yesterday. The leftover snow, however, did prevent me from getting my car up the steep driveway. I started smelling burning, and I decided to stop at that point. It was either dig out, wait for the plow.... which meant missing the morning meeting and canvassing.

So a couple of interns came to pick me up. They're both college students, and one was pissed about yesterday's canvassing experience. They were out until 8pm (which I will be today, once we get going!), and the roads and long driveways of the Lakes Region were pretty treacherous. The young man (God, I'm getting old) launched into a lengthy description, peppered with curses, about his day. "I'm not getting paid for this sh** - and I wasn't going to risk my life driving down these driveways. F'ing black ice..."

And so on.

We arrived 45 minutes late for the morning staff meeting - 9:30am. The staff meeting began with an org chart - ah, the org chart - presented by some consultants from a grass roots firm. Morning individual meetings took place, and Joey, my canvass buddy, and I watched Bill Clinton's campaign video to inspire us.

Now it's 11:05am, and I'm here, hanging out, waiting to go canvas.

More updates from the campaign trail - my own personal one, through the snow and ice, to individual voters.